These BBQ Meatballs are always hugely popular and couldn’t be easier to make with just a few simple ingredients, including cranberry sauce, cocktail sauce, BBQ sauce and meatballs. They are sweet, tangy and the easiest appetizer and finger food. 

I love serving an array of appetizers when I have guests over.  I love the chance to make several different fun finger foods like Toasted Ravioli, Cheesy BreadsticksSpinach Artichoke Dip or crab cakes.

BBQ Meatballs appetizer served in a bowl garnished with green onion.

It doesn’t matter how old you are, or how picky you are, EVERYONE loves a warm meatball appetizer! I particularly love this recipe because you can use frozen store-bought meatballs (I like the Costco brand), or make your own meatballs from scratch.  The whole appetizer only takes 5 minutes to prep; just throw everything in the crockpot and let it do the work!

How to make BBQ meatballs:

1. Add your frozen meatballs to the slow cooker.

2. Mix sauce ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix cranberry sauce, cocktail sauce, brown sugar, water, and bbq sauce.

3. Pour over meatballs. Pour this mixture on top of the slow cooker meatballs

4. Cook on low for 4-6 hours.

Four process photos for making BBQ meatballs including frozen meatballs in crockpot, sauce made, poured on top, and cooked.

Are frozen meatballs already cooked?

Most frozen meatballs from the store are pre-cooked (my favorite brand is Costco’s Kirkland signature meatballs). Frozen meatballs are so convenient because you don’t have to let them thaw.  You can cook them in a crock pot on low for 5-6 hours or on high for 2-3 hours, right in the sauce!  It doesn’t get easier than that.

Don’t have a crockpot? Make them in a saucepan!

Add ingredients for the sauce to a saucepan and stir until smooth. Add the meatballs and stir to coat. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer. Cook for 8-10 minutes for thawed meatballs, or 14-16 minutes for frozen meatballs.

Meatballs: Frozen pre-cooked meatballs are recommenced. I love to make a big batch of homemade meatballs for the freezer to use whenever I decide to make this quick and easy appetizer. Fresh uncooked meatballs can be used, but I recommend a lean meat so the meatballs don’t add a lot of grease to the sauce.

Stove-top Instructions: Add ingredients for the sauce to a saucepan and stir until smooth. Add the meatballs and stir to coat. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer. Cook for 8-10 minutes for thawed meatballs, or 14-16 minutes for frozen meatballs.

Other Appetizers we love:

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Recipe

BBQ Meatballs appetizer served in a bowl garnished with green onion.
Prep 5 minutes
Cook 2 hours
Total 2 hours 5 minutes
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Equipment

Ingredients
  

  • 50-60 frozen meatballs (store bought or homemade)*
  • 14 ounce whole cranberry sauce
  • 12 ounces cocktail sauce , or homemade
  • 3/4 cup light brown sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup bbq sauce
  • green onion , finely chopped for garnish

Instructions
 

  • Spray the bottom of your slow cooker lightly with cooking spray. Add frozen meatballs to the bottom of pot. 
  • In a large bowl stir together cranberry sauce, cocktail sauce, brown sugar, water, and barbecue sauce and pour over meatballs. 
  • Cook on LOW for 4-6 hours or HIGH for 2-3 hours. 
  • Serve warm garnished with chopped green onions, if desired.

Notes

Storing Instructions: Store crockpot meatballs in the refrigerator for 3-4 days in a sealed container.  Reheat in the microwave or on the stove top until warmed through.
Meatballs: Frozen pre-cooked meatballs are recommenced. Fresh uncooked meatballs can be used, but I recommend a lean meat so the meatballs don’t add a lot of grease to the sauce.
Stove-top Instructions: Add ingredients for the sauce to a saucepan and stir until smooth. Add the meatballs and stir to coat. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer. Cook for 8-10 minutes for thawed meatballs, or 14-16 minutes for frozen meatballs.

Nutrition

Calories: 262kcalCarbohydrates: 34gProtein: 8gFat: 10gSaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 33mgSodium: 439mgPotassium: 271mgSugar: 31gVitamin A: 170IUVitamin C: 1.9mgCalcium: 27mgIron: 0.8mg

Did You Make This Recipe?

Tag @TastesBetterFromScratch on Instagram with #TastesBetterFromScratch!

Nutritional label is based off of one serving of 4 meatballs.

Have you tried this recipe?! 

RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.

I originally shared this recipe October 2016. Updated with additional instructions, tips and photos October 2020.

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Lauren Allen

Welcome! I’m Lauren, a mom of four and lover of good food. Here you’ll find easy recipes and weeknight meal ideas made with real ingredients, with step-by-step photos and videos.

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Comments

  1. Recipes look fun. I liked to try new fun dishes. I like to make dishes for my grandsons to try. I’m 84 year and a widow I ask them give me your opinion do I make it again.

  2. Could I use currant jelly with this recipe instead of cranberry sauce? Would that mix well with the rest of the ingredients?

  3. I want to make this recipe for a Christmas party tomorrow but my grocery store was sold out of whole cranberry sauce and only had jellied! Do you think it would be okay to sub jellied in the recipe? I’m curious if you’ve tried that.

  4. 5 stars
    I Love this recipe but want to change it up to make more of an Asian flare.
    Would you recommend substituting any of the ingredients for soy sauce and adding a little spice? Need your expertise….
    Thanks Laura! Love your website!

  5. 5 stars
    Made these over the weekend and they were a big hit! Loved that I could make them in the slow cooker and loved all the leftovers. So easy and delicious!

  6. 5 stars
    I used turkey and everyone loved them! Easy to make as well. I’m going to add only 1/2 cup of water next time to see if the sauce remains a little thicker.

  7. 5 stars
    These were sooo good! I made them for a potluck and they were gone by the end of it. I used frozen turkey meatballs and they turned out great in the crock pot. This will be my go-to potluck meal from now on!

  8. Hi Lauren,

    I have a recipe for homemade meatballs for my spaghetti. Would I be able to use those meatballs for this recipe?

    Or does it matter? Any feedback is greatly appreciated. 🙂

    1. Absolutely! Are they frozen or fresh? (If you make them fresh you should at least brown them well on all sides before adding to the crock pot) That sounds delicious!

  9. 5 stars
    This might be a silly question, but what is a can of whole cranberry sauce? I always make my own cranberry sauce homemade…I know in cans you can get with berries or the type that’s more a gelatin. Please advise! Canadian thanksgiving is next weekend and I really want to make these meatballs! Thanks in advance.

    1. You’re on the right track. Grocery stores carry cans of “cranberry sauce” you want the one with whole berries, NOT the gelatin type.
      However, if the sauce you make uses whole berries and is a cooked type sauce verses a raw fresh type you could substitue 1-1/2 c. your sauce.

  10. I will try these, but honestly, I cannot believe anyone, let alone a food blogger, would use Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce where the FIRST ingredient on the bottle is HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP. SOOO bad for you. There are other BBQ sauces out there that have no HFCS. Like any from Trader Joe’s. I use their Kansas City BBQ sauce. To anyone reading this comment…..READ the ingredient labels.

    1. Hi Kathy,
      Thanks for your comment, I just wanted to add my thoughts (and a little research) on the subject. There are a lot of misconceptions and confusion when it comes to sugar. Research has found that High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is not metabolically different than regular sugar (namely, sucrose). The biggest problem with HFCS is that is is added to so many of our food products, thereby increasing the amount of added sugar that americans are consuming in their diet. While consuming an excess of HFCS is bad for the body, it is EQUALLY bad to consume excess of any added sugars (including the more than 50 different names for sugar that you will find on a nutritional label). So while I haven’t seen the Trader Joes Kansas City BBQ sauce nutrition label, it more than likely lists sugar or brown sugar, and molasses somewhere on the ingredients. These are very similar to the ingredients in any BBQ sauce (including the homemade BBQ sauce that I list on the recipe) and are just as equally harmful to the body as HFCS. Essentially we should all just limit added sugar (whether that is HFCS, sugar, brown sugar, corn sugar, etc, etc,) that is in our diet. There is a lot of research on the topic but here are a couple of articles I thought were enlightening if you are interested.
      Sucrose, High-Fructose Corn Syrup, and Fructose, Their Metabolism and Potential Health Effects: What Do We Really Know?
      Is High-Fructose Corn Syrup Worse Than Regular Sugar?

  11. 5 stars
    Thanks for sharing how you made this! I haven’t had these in years and I’m so excited to bring them to SuperBowl Sunday!

  12. 5 stars
    I have used this recipe many times…especially for a company pot luck…they are scarfed down so fast. Such a good recipe!! I like the tangy-ness of the Cranberry Sauce. I also use the Grape Jelly and Barbeque Sauce Meat Balls recipe, but I really like this one!! Thanks Lauren!!

  13. Sounds perfect for my Christmas dinner, I always like to try something new. Instead=ad of the onions do you think some chopped cilantro would be okay?

  14. I’m going to try this recipe for my family on Christmas day….. sounds delicious I’m really excited about it ?

      1. 5 stars
        Verdict: They were very tasty! The slight kick from the cocktail sauce was well balanced by the sweetness of the cranberry and bbq sauce.

  15. 3 stars
    I found these good, but they taste overly of cocktail sauce. I would make them again, perhaps with different ratios?

    1. Hi Vanessa, next time you could cut back half the cocktail sauce and use a little more BBQ. You may also try using a different brand of cocktail sauce if you found it was too strong.

    1. Cassandra, I love Sweet Baby Rays Original BBQ Sauce! Best of luck and I hope everyone loves them! I would love to hear how they turn out!

      1. I’m shocked that people still use Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce. The first ingredient is HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP….SO bad for you. “Newman’s Own” Original BBQ sauce is AWESOME and has NO HFCS or any artificial flavors. I only use that brand, and it is SOOO good!

      2. Noooo….high fructose corn syrup is first ingredient. Try Paul Newman’s Original BBQ sauce. NO artificial ingredients. Lower in sugar too.

  16. Hello,

    I want to make this recipe this year.
    Which brand of cocktail sauce and bbq sauce did you use and reccommend?
    I’m assuming you used the ocean spray can cranberry sauce, right?

    Thanks in advance,

    Marie

    1. Hi Marie, I used the ocean spray cranberry sauce, sweet baby rays bbq sauce and heinz or kraft cocktail sauce, although any generic brand would be fine 🙂 . Hope you enjoy them! I’d love to hear what you think.

  17. 5 stars
    Hello,

    If I want to make double the amount, do I just double up on the recipe or do you recommend something done different?

    Thank You =)

  18. Is this made in a full size crockpot or in a smaller one usually used for apps and dips? I probably just want the smaller size portion for a small family gathering. Wondering if I should halve the recipe. Thanks!

    1. Hi Laurie, I used my 6qt crockpot, since I was making about 60 meatballs. You can definitely cut the recipe in half for a smaller crockpot. Enjoy!

  19. The sodium seems listed low considering the recipe calls for cocktail and Bbq sauce. How large is a serving for 119 mg of sodium?

    1. Hi Victoria, I’ve updated the nutritional label to reflect a serving size of 4 meatballs per serving. (You will see that 4 meatballs is bout 439mg of sodium). Also, keep in mind that the nutritional label is just an estimate. It will vary depending on what brand of products you use in the recipe.

    1. Hi Michelle, you can use your stovetop! Add ingredients for the sauce to a saucepan and stir until smooth. Then add the meatballs and stir to coat. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer. Cook for 8-10 minutes for thawed meatballs, or 14-16 minutes for frozen meatballs. Hope you enjoy them! I’d love to hear what you think.

  20. Such a yummy dish! I see that you can use 1/2 cup honey instead of 3/4 cup brown sugar for this recipe. The flavor of them are the same.

  21. Oh my – these are incredibly delicious!! And extremely easy to make. Thank you so much Lauren for coming up with this recipe.

  22. Great recipe Lauren,
    They look so delicious and easy to make.
    I think they will taste great too.
    I am going to cook it tomorrow.
    Thank You!

  23. HI there just wondering how long to cook if fresh meatballs are used? Would you cook from raw or already cooked?

    1. Hi Charity, If using fresh meatballs I would brown them first (they don’t have to be cooked all the way through), and then cook them in the slow cooker with the sauce for about 2 hours on low.